diff --git a/packages/dom-helper/lib/prop.js b/packages/dom-helper/lib/prop.js
index 8268cfad..a78bb6a6 100644
--- a/packages/dom-helper/lib/prop.js
+++ b/packages/dom-helper/lib/prop.js
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ export function isAttrRemovalValue(value) {
   return value === null || value === undefined;
 }
 
+function UNDEFINED() {}
+
 // TODO should this be an o_create kind of thing?
 export var propertyCaches = {};
 
@@ -13,11 +15,42 @@ export function normalizeProperty(element, attrName) {
     // TODO should this be an o_create kind of thing?
     cache = {};
     for (key in element) {
-      cache[key.toLowerCase()] = key;
+      key = key.toLowerCase();
+      if (isSettable(element, key)) {
+        cache[key] = key;
+      } else {
+        cache[key] = UNDEFINED;
+      }
     }
     propertyCaches[tagName] = cache;
   }
 
   // presumes that the attrName has been lowercased.
-  return cache[attrName];
+  var value = cache[attrName];
+  return value === UNDEFINED ? undefined : value;
+}
+
+// elements with a property that does not conform to the spec in certain
+// browsers. In these cases, we'll end up using setAttribute instead
+var badPairs = [{
+  // phantomjs < 2.0 lets you set it as a prop but won't reflect it
+  // back to the attribute. button.getAttribute('type') === null
+  tagName: 'BUTTON',
+  propName: 'type'
+}, {
+  // Some version of IE (like IE9) actually throw an exception
+  // if you set input.type = 'something-unknown'
+  tagName: 'INPUT',
+  propName: 'type'
+}];
+
+function isSettable(element, attrName) {
+  for (let i = 0, l = badPairs.length; i < l; i++) {
+    let pair = badPairs[i];
+    if (pair.tagName === element.tagName && pair.propName === attrName) {
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return true;
 }
diff --git a/packages/dom-helper/tests/dom-helper-test.js b/packages/dom-helper/tests/dom-helper-test.js
index 937221e3..9222fb5d 100644
--- a/packages/dom-helper/tests/dom-helper-test.js
+++ b/packages/dom-helper/tests/dom-helper-test.js
@@ -194,6 +194,36 @@ test('#setProperty removes attr with undefined', function(){
   equalHTML(node, '<div></div>', 'undefined attribute removes the attribute');
 });
 
+test('#setProperty uses setAttribute for special non-compliant element props', function() {
+  expect(6);
+  
+  var badPairs = [
+    { tagName: 'button', key: 'type', value: 'submit', selfClosing: false },
+    { tagName: 'input', key: 'type', value: 'x-not-supported', selfClosing: true }
+  ];
+
+  badPairs.forEach(function(pair) {
+    var node = dom.createElement(pair.tagName);   
+    var setAttribute = node.setAttribute;
+
+    node.setAttribute = function(attrName, value) {
+      equal(attrName, pair.key, 'setAttribute called with correct attrName');
+      equal(value, pair.value, 'setAttribute called with correct value');
+      return setAttribute.call(this, attrName, value);
+    };
+
+    dom.setProperty(node, pair.key, pair.value);
+
+    // e.g. <button type="submit"></button>
+    var expected = '<' + pair.tagName + ' ' + pair.key + '="' + pair.value + '">';
+    if (pair.selfClosing === false) {
+      expected += '</' + pair.tagName + '>';
+    }
+
+    equalHTML(node, expected, 'output html is correct');
+  });
+});
+
 test('#addClasses', function(){
   var node = dom.createElement('div');
   dom.addClasses(node, ['super-fun']);
diff --git a/packages/dom-helper/tests/prop-test.js b/packages/dom-helper/tests/prop-test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ed78ebac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/dom-helper/tests/prop-test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+import { normalizeProperty } from 'dom-helper/prop';
+
+QUnit.module('dom-helper prop');
+
+test('returns `undefined` for special element properties that are non-compliant in certain browsers', function() {
+  expect(2);
+  
+  var badPairs = [
+    { tagName: 'BUTTON', key: 'type' },
+    { tagName: 'INPUT', key: 'type' }
+  ];
+
+  badPairs.forEach(function(pair) {
+    var element = {
+      tagName: pair.tagName
+    };
+
+    Object.defineProperty(element, pair.key, {
+      set: function() {
+        throw new Error('I am a bad browser!');
+      }
+    });
+
+    var actual = normalizeProperty(element, pair.key);
+    equal(actual, undefined);
+  });
+});
\ No newline at end of file